Lord Drayson: There are currently some 1,050 United Kingdom personnel serving with the headquarters of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in its role as headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). On current plans, that should reduce to around 125 personnel from February 2007 when the headquarters of the ISAF will be provided by a composite headquarters generated from across the alliance.

Lord Warner: Large studies in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America have shown improved outcomes for clients who have undergone residential rehabilitation. The American Drug Abuse Treatment Outcomes Study (DA T05) showed good outcomes at one year for people who had been treated in residential rehabilitation programmes, with cocaine and heroin use reduced by two-thirds from intake levels. The British National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) showed that about half of the clients were abstinent from heroin and other opiates for three months after residential treatment. Injecting was halved and needle sharing reduced by more than two-thirds.
	NTORS also showed that clients with more complex drug use make better gains in residential rehabilitation than in community treatment. Improved outcomes were most likely to be found among clients who spent longer in residential rehabilitation, with those staying in treatment for at least three months more likely to have positive outcomes.
	There is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of structured day programmes for drug misuse. Hence, currently there is little evidence concerning the relative effectiveness of the two settings in successful drug rehabilitation.
	The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse has recently published a Review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems, which concludes in regard to alcohol rehabilitation that,
	"outpatient care is more cost effective than residential or inpatient care, although inpatient or residential facilities are still required for some service users".
	However, the review confirms that residential services may not always be more costly than out-patient services. (Note: out-patient in this analysis includes day service provision).

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Answer by Lord Bach on 20 November 2005 (HL Deb, col. 105), which stated that the mortality of those birds, once they entered the European Union to get to their final destination was unacceptably high, whether the mortality of birds was also unacceptably high (a) in the act of capture; (b) in transit outside the European Union; and (c) in quarantine; and what they consider to be an acceptable rate of mortality at each of these stages.

Lord Rooker: The Government agree with the conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority's report Animal health and welfare risks associated with the import of wild birds other than poultry into the European Union, including those on welfare. The full report is available at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/science/ahaw/ahaw_opinions/ahaw_op_ej410_captive_birds.html.

Lord Rooker: On 4 December, the European Union (EU) Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health voted to extend a complete ban on the import of wild birds until 31 March 2007. The extension was justified in terms of allowing time for the Community to introduce proposals dealing with concerns outlined in the European Food Safety Authority's report on Animal health and welfare risks associated with the import of wild birds other than poultry into the European Union.
	As the Prime Minister wrote in his letter to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on 5 December, the UK intends to press other member states and the European Commission to extend indefinitely the ban on the commercial import of wild birds from 1 April 2007, with exceptions for recognised international conservation programmes. This would protect both human and animal health, while benefiting the welfare of wild birds.
	Draft proposals circulated by the Commission detail an extremely strict import regime, with only a small number of countries (Australia, Bulgaria, some states of Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, Croatia, Israel, New Zealand, Romania, Tunisia and the USA) able to export to the EU. The proposals also contain a requirement that birds come from authorised breeding colonies and strict rules about permissible transportation time. We expect very low levels of imports as a result of these high standards, which are necessary to safeguard bird health.
	On welfare, veterinary officers (VO) from the State Veterinary Service will use their professional judgment to enforce welfare law. Under quarantine regulations, the death of any bird during the quarantine period should be reported to the VO supervising the quarantine as soon as is reasonably practical. It is illegal for a person to remove or dispose of a carcase of a captive bird which dies in quarantine, unless a veterinary inspector has authorised its removal or disposal. Quarantine approval will be revoked if requirements are not met.

Lord Rooker: Before the implementation of the single payment scheme the Rural Payments Agency employed approximately 686 full-time equivalent staff involved in processing the schemes replaced by the SPS. Current numbers of full-time equivalents working on SPS processing is approximately 2,043. This represents an increase of approximately 1,357 full-time equivalents, mostly at administrative officer level, with an approximate cost of £9.6million.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: The information requested falls within the responsibilities of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from the National Statistician, Karen Dunnell, dated 12 December 2006.
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what percentage of staff currently employed in each government department are registered as disabled people; and what the comparable figures were for each of the last five years (HL 26).
	Diversity statistics are published annually in the Civil Service Statistics report on the Cabinet Office website. The latest publication, for 2005, presents statistics on permanent staff in post for all staff and Senior Civil Service level by department and disability status.
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications/xls/report_2005/table_p.xls
	Comparable statistics have been prepared on an ad hoc basis for 2003 and 2004 and have been placed in the House of Lords Library.
	For earlier years, statistics on disability status are available only by responsibility level and Government Office for the Regions. Links are provided to the relevant tables. Information by department could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Please note that information on disability is collected on voluntary, self-classification questionnaires and there is considerable non-response. For example, in April 2005, the disability status of 26 per cent of staff was unknown. Non-response particularly affects those moving between departments. Therefore, the statistics on disability should be interpreted with some caution, particularly year-on-year changes.

Lord Greaves: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What are their estimates of the amount and proportion of commercial waste that is recycled in England, and where applicable in each waste collection authority, in the following categories(a) waste collected by local authorities; (b) waste collected by commercial organisations; and(c) waste disposed of directly.

Lord Rooker: The table below shows the estimates of the amount and proportion of commercial waste recycled in England, and by each English region, in 2002-3; the most recent year for which figures are available.
	
		
			 Commercial Waste   Thousand tonnes 
			  Recycled & Reused Percentage of Total Total Commercial Waste 
			 East Midlands 863 37% 2,322 
			 East of England 1,248 38% 3,308 
			 London 2,281 41% 5,604 
			 North East 408 34% 1,199 
			 North West 1,245 32% 3,833 
			 South East 1,565 30% 5,271 
			 South West 1,051 35% 2,967 
			 West Midlands 1,221 40% 3,019 
			 Yorkshire & the Humber 1,221 44% 2,797 
			 England 11,104 37% 30,320 
			 Source: 2002-03 Environment Agency Commercial and Industrial Waste Survey 
		
	
	However, the management method of 1.5 million tonnes of commercial waste was not recorded by the survey.
	Reliable estimates are available only down to regional level and the survey did not identify the contractual arrangements for collection of this waste. Some local authorities will collect some commercial waste and this will vary depending on local circumstances.